Costco members tend to be a fiercely loyal bunch. They love to sing the warehouse club’s praises and, most importantly, they love to shop there. But even Costco can’t buck the trend of physical stores finding customers are spending more time and money elsewhere these days, it seems.
Sales are still growing over at Costco, but not nearly as much as they “should” be or as much as shareholders hoped, the Wall Street Journal reports.
That said, failing to hit analyst expectations isn’t the same as failing to make money. Costco brought in $35.7 billion in sales last quarter, it reports, as compared to $35 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts had projected the chain would reach $37.2 billion in the quarter.
In seeing sales soften, the WSJ points out, Costco’s joining a long list. We’ve heard the same this year from mall staples like Macy’s, big boxes like Target, and higher-end retailers like Nordstrom, among others.
Also contributing? The cheap gas consumers enjoyed earlier this year. Costco is one of the biggest gas stations in the country, it turns out, and when prices go back up, well, people buy less.
Costco Logs Disappointing Sales [Wall Street Journal]
by Kate Cox via Consumerist
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